Vegas Baby!

Alright, these are the last pictures from our trip. Just in time for me to post all my new Christmas pictures. Anyway, we are excited to go back in January and spend time with family in Salt Lake, without all the driving around and craziness. But we sure did have fun. The best part was that Jane actually said, "Vegas Baby!" Good times.

Cathy suggested we go see the conservatory at the Bellagio, so we did. It was all decked out for Christmas and pretty amazing. Kevin and Jane with the flower snowmen. It even snowed (foam) every so often.

Family picture

Jane taking a stroll under the water arches.

Jane and the huge rocking horse

Thank you Kevin for carrying both girls. I was exhausted and you came to my rescue. I love you!

Kevin and Jane in front of the hotel Paris

The whole family in front of the same fountain. It was even colder in Vegas. Luckily we flew out Tuesday because Wed. the flights were grounded due to snow!

Kevin and Jane in front of the fountain show at the Bellagio

A cold and very tired traveler, but oh so cute!

A night shot of the strip from the Bellagio

After seeing the strip we were very excited to go to a nice warm house. Another old friend from Florida happened to live in Las Vegas with his wife. And they were kind enough to let us crash at their house for the night. Thanks Josh and Chelsea. Jane loved the two dogs and the cat who made some cameo appearances.

Alice meet Scooter, the 3 legged dog

No Scooter, this is my couch cushion. Move please! Josh is also in the picture.

The next morning we were finally on our way home!!!! Yeah! The girls did great on the plane, but were oh so glad to be going home.

"What Mommy, we're going home. That just makes me so happy!!!!"

The pictures keep coming!

Saturday we went back to Zion's and walked up a tiny path to see the three Patriarchs. Two of the mountains are to my left, the third is to the right of the picture. It was a bit chillier that day. Alice was nice and cozy though.

Kevin's parents and brother Steve and his family had headed back to Salt Lake that morning to beat the huge storm that was headed toward us. So this was the whole gang on Saturday. The start of the Riverwalk, which takes you along the river to the start of the Narrows.

Jane and Kevin paused for some more photo opportunities. I don't know if it was the super cute jacket (thanks Heather) or what, but Jane felt a little bit (and I mean just a tiny bit) more photogenic!

I love the picture below.

We made it to the end of the walk and took a couple pictures there.

Look at the big rocks!

We headed back. Poor little Jane was pretty frozen and tired by this point, but lucky for her, she has a strong daddy! There were so many beautiful spots along the way.

That night it snowed in Hurricane. I think it was snowing pretty much everywhere.

Kevin standing out in front of the condo with the snow falling all about him.

Sunday, after attending the oldest ward ever, not a soul under 60 was in the congregation, we took a little drive. The snow had turned Zion's into a winter wonderland. We drove through the tunnel and then around over a mountain pass back to Cedar City and then back down to Hurricane. Here are a couple of shots along the way.

ATV crossing. I had to laugh. We don't see many of those in Florida.

This was our rental car for the week, a Nissan Rogue or something like that. It was a comfortable car. Here I am telling Kevin to hurry up and get back in the car because Alice was waking up. Luckily he was fast enough and she slept the whole trip, all 3 hours.

At the beginning of the drive we weren't quite sure if we should even attempt to drive through the pass because of all the snow, but we said a little prayer, felt fine and off we went. And I'm very glad we did because it was beautiful.

Round 2, Zion's National Park - Emerald Pools

Kevin's parents (Bob and Valene), his sister Karlene, brother Steve and his wife Valerie and son Kyle, and other sister Kara and her husband Brett and their son Carter, and we all went for a hike on Friday. We hiked a trail called the Emerald Pools. We actually made it all the way to the upper pool. It took us about 3 hours. It was a toddler's pace!

Here we are at the start of the hike. Pretty much up hill the whole way!

Kevin taking a break to help Jane and Carter climb up a big rock. Carter has precious pennies in his pocket. He was making sure they were still there. Jane is pointing to me. A trick to get her to look at the camera.

Here is one of the waterfalls. If you look closely you can see Kevin and Jane at the bottom of the picture.

Here's the whole gang. From back to front Valene, Valerie, Kyle, Steve, Karlene, Brett, Bob, Carter, and Kara.

A little family shot. Jane was oh so enthused. She really wanted to walk, but we really wanted to get back to the car!

These next 2 shots are Kevin's hard work and determination. This first one was the best of about 10 shots devoted to Kevin and Jane and the scenery. I loved them all. I wondered why they were lagging behind. The pictures tell it all. Jane needed to collect sticks and was very excited to show them off!

Yes, I am in this picture. Click on the picture to see a bigger version. It's amazing how massive the rocks/mountains are.

I'm in this picture too. I was having fun posing for Kevin. Alice was asleep through it all.

This however, has to be one of my favorite pictures from the whole trip. It just makes me laugh when I think about it. This is another attempt by Kevin to capture Jane's cute face and the scenery around them, but he forgot the camera was on zoom. I like to add my own commentary. From Kevin's point of view, "So here's me hiking in Zion's. Isn't it beautiful? Oh yeah, I look pretty good too!"

It's back to the car. A peaceful finish to a long hike. I thought it was so sweet to capture Bob and Valene walking hand in hand.

Our Trip

This will be in a few parts, but here is the beginning of our trip to Vegas and Southern Utah. Jane was so excited about the planes.

She got to know the stewardesses. They thought she was a doll!

Getting chummy with the flight attendants on the plane.

I'm guessing that was lake Mead. What a gorgeous view from the plane, as long as Jane didn't catch you with the window open. I don't think she wanted to be reminded of the fact that she was not on the ground.

Our first stop was Mark and Cathy Snavely's. I knew Mark in high school and he and his little family now live in Vegas. So they were gracious enough to let us hang out at their place for one night before our drive up to Cedar City, UT.

Jane and Taj had a blast. (for more pictures of their exciting times, visit Cathy's blog at http://nickelicioustimes.blogspot.com/

The girls enjoyed the nice roomy tub for their bath too. Thanks again you guys. We had a wonderful time.

Next it was on to Cedar City and St. George for the reason we flew out there, Kami's wedding.

Here are Kami and Ryan just after their sealing in the St. George Temple. It was a beautiful sealing and just a really sweet day. A little chilly, but not as bad as it was going to get.

While the rest of the crowd took pictures, Jane chilled with her container of Teddy Grahams. Priorities!

Then she strolled up the steps to the temple and decided to dance a little at the top of the stairs. Above she is doing her classic kick move.

She's actually smiling and could've been singing a little in this picture.

Pictures to come

We had a great trip to Vegas and Southern Utah. The girls are troopers and excellent travelers. I'll post some pictures and tell the details of our travels as soon as I can download the pictures to the computer. It may take me a couple of days because we just had too much fun and way too many gorgeous picture opportunities.